


Dusk till dawn

by crisbarakart



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Angst, Angst and Feels, Hurt Keith (Voltron), Hurt Lance (Voltron), Keith (Voltron) Angst, Keith (Voltron) is a Mess, Keith/Lance (Voltron) Angst, Lance (Voltron) Angst, M/M, Pining Keith (Voltron), Pining Lance (Voltron), Puella Magi Madoka Magica References, Puella Magi Madoka Magica Spoilers, if you watched madoka you know what it means ig?, the mayor character death there is not as bad as it looks i promise
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-29
Updated: 2019-01-29
Packaged: 2019-10-19 02:08:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,799
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17592650
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/crisbarakart/pseuds/crisbarakart
Summary: "You never told me what your wish was." Lance said, a nostalgic smile spread out on his face.Between them, their Soul Gems flickered with their last sheds of pure light. Red and blue melting into black. They were quickly darkening and soon, they would too become witches."I wished to be able to re-live meeting you again." Keith whispered."Then I hope we meet again."/klance madoka au/





	Dusk till dawn

**Author's Note:**

> if you've watched madoka you know why there's the mayor character death warning there but i promise i didnt put anything too harsh here
> 
> also this contains looooots of spoilers of madoka
> 
> this idea came to me one night when i couldn't sleep and i had to do something with it
> 
> like!! omg klance would fit so well in this. lance would totally sacrifice himself for keith and keith would do the impossible to save lance and keep him away from kyubey

_"but you'll never be alone / i'll be with you from dusk till dawn / baby, I am right here / i'll hold you when things go wrong / i'll be with you from dusk till dawn"_

**_— zayn, dusk till dawn_ **

...

"What did you wish for?"

Lance smiled nostalgically. He didn't look at Keith, he kept his gaze fixed on the city that spread out underneath them, as they sat at the ledge of one of the highest buildings. Keith knew that smile so well, for it was the same everyone who had made a contract with Kyubey portraited when asked about their wish. Or how it felt to be a puella magi and save the world from witches every day. It was the bittersweet sense of regret and the sense of doing what you thought was right. It was the question of whether or not the wish that was once so strong and important still preserved that same blinding value.

"I wished my _abuelita_ was cancer-free." Lance whispered then, and his expression broke a bit more. It may have been hard to perceive for other people, but Keith cared about Lance, and they had fought alongside for enough time as for him to know him well. Lance meant so much to Keith.

He also knew how Kyubey's wishes always ended up turning in the wrong direction.

He hesitated for a few seconds, not sure if he should ask the next question –'did it work out?'–, so he just turned to look at the city underneath them as well. Taking all the lights, the sounds, the people, the—.

"It worked, at least." Lance said, reading Keith's mind as he always did. "I don't care if I have to suffer fighting all those witches if it means my _abuelita_ will be okay."

It was then, when Keith saw, for the first time in a long while, Lance's genuine smile. Something inside Keith shook, feeling like both smiling and crying at the same time. He wanted to preserve that smile. He wanted it to be forever present, lighting up the city much brighter than all the lampposts and screens. Much brighter than the sun itself.

He wanted Lance to be happy.

—

"Lance! Stop! That's not part of the plan!" Allura screamed at him, to no avail, watching him run past her, straight to the witch.

They had all noticed Lance was acting weird that night. He was not his usual cheerful, positive self. Lance was always trying to make everyone happy, even if they all knew that fighting against witches was hard and demanded so much, even if their job sometimes even took away their happiness. Lance was always there to remind them of who they were and the good they were doing. But that night he was being so quiet, like a candle that had consumed to nothingness.

They had all worried but, seeing that a particularly powerful witch was around the area, they had decided to leave it aside for a moment. They'd talk to Lance once they were done with the witch. Unfortunately, things hadn't gone according to plan.

Allura was supposed to go first, followed by Hunk and Pidge, and then, Keith and Lance would strike the last hit and finish the witch. However, before Allura even had the chance to walk to the witch and throw the first blow, Lance run forward, blasting his riffle.

They all watched, frozen in place for a few seconds, as Lance violently shot shoot after shoot, showing no mercy, no remorse. Cold blooded. Ice blue eyes. With so much fearlessness it was nearing recklessness, making them all fear for Lance. He wasn't being himself. That wasn't Lance.

"Lance! Stop!" Keith shouted this time.

He was the first one to break out of their stupor, to actually move and do something more than shout at Lance to stop. He jumped across the witch's labyrinth, avoiding the little creatures that tried to attack him, getting closer to where Lance was standing. Lance simply stood there, disposing riffle after riffle, with the witch getting closer to him. It seemed as if he didn't care at all, about anything at all, not even his own life. That was, in fact, further proved when the witch ended up landing a hit on Lance, making an awful cut open up in Lance's left cheek. Lance didn't even flinch.

"That's it!" Keith screamed. It came out as anger but, really, he was worried sick about Lance. He grabbed him by the waist, lifting him to his shoulder and carrying him away from the witch. "You guys take care of the witch, I'm taking care of this one!"

The rest of them nodded in agreement. Keith wasn't worried, he knew his friends, he knew they were more than capable of taking care of one powerful yet average witch. He was more worried about the guy that now laid still over his shoulder.

Keith got them out of the witch's labyrinth, sighing with relief when he was able to see the waste ground of the factory where they had spotted the witch to be again. He carefully placed Lance back on his feet, however, Lance still fell to the ground. Crumbling. With quiet sobs that got louder and louder by each second passing. Keith stood there, perplexed, for a moment. He looked at Lance, sitting on the sand floor, hands covering his face, shoulders shaking. Keith felt his heart break.

"Hey... Hey, what's wrong?" Keith kneeled down on the floor next to Lance, carefully placing an arm around his shoulders. "They can take care of the witch, you know they're—."

"My _abuelita_ died!"

Silence. Keith could only hear the sound of Lance's sobs, breaking through the desolated waste ground at the outskirts of town, and the sound of the wind shifting through the remains of the factory. Like an old fanthom, like a forgotten song. He swallowed hard, desperately looking for the right words to say. Anything.

"She... She had... a heart attack... this morning." Lance continued, between sobs.

And Keith could almost see Kyubey, smiling devilishly in the shadows. His little unsympathetic self, tilting his head to the side and saying 'why do you care so much? It's just another human being, there are plenty more out there' in his usual apathetic voice. Because they didn't matter to him, they were all just the same disposable beings. And Keith wanted to scream, because they were not meaningless –Lance wasn't meaningless–, because he had promised himself he'd protect Lance from all the pain it brought to make a contract with Kyubey; but he had failed miserably once more. Because, once more, Lance was crying. Once more he was breaking. Shattering. And Keith wanted to rewrite everything for as many times as it took to make Lance happy and spare him of his suffering.

Keith knew this would happen, wishes always found its way to get ruined, and you can only defeat the laws of the universe so much. You can't fight against death, you can't save everyone. But Lance was determined to try and try and try and try until he was covered in blood and bruises, until his very last breath, until there was nothing left of him.

And Keith just wanted to protect him.

—

"It doesn't matter how or why I know about Walpurgisnacht!" Keith screamed, getting increasingly more frustrated and nervous. "That witch's gonna come and we need to be ready for that, or else—! or else..."

Keith closed his mouth, feeling the lump in his throat form at the same time as the visions of his dead friends filled his head. Dead, unmoving, once more, throughout all the timelines he's gone through to avoid it and still failed. Each death making him colder, number, yet, at the same time, more broken. Sometimes it felt like every time he used his wish to go back, he left another piece of him in that timeline, as if reliving it all meant another stab in the chest.

They were at Allura's house, like every other afternoon. Allura lived alone, her parents having died long ago –in fact, Keith knew, both from past timelines and this one, that Allura's wish had been one of survival. Back in the day, her parents died in a car crash, she was meant to die that day too, but, instead, she made a contract with Kyubey.– so Allura was always more than willing to have them over. It was nice, it was a good way to pretend they were just regular teenagers, enjoying their adolescence and spending their time on mundane things like homework and school crushes. Keith found that it was nice to just sit at the living room of Allura's small apartment, surrounded by friends he loved more he cared to admit, and pretend like everything was going just fine. Like everything was going to turn out just fine.

He felt Lance's hand rest on his shoulder, his pretty, pretty blue eyes looking at him with worry for a moment. And then, confident smile breaking through his face; "Keith, calm down, everything's gonna be fine. We'll kick that ugly witch's ass like we always do."

But Keith still felt like he couldn't breathe, because he had seen that same witch take his friends life's so many times. And he knew they weren't ready. That witch was too strong and no matter how many times Keith re-did it all, it never felt like they had enough power, enough strength. The witch always finished them off, like it was nothing. It didn't feel like this time would be different.

Keith looked away from Lance, slowly nodding, just for the sake of it, even if he wasn't convinced. Lance smiled then, warm, nice.

Keith wanted to keep that smile forever.

"Okay! No more talking about work! Allura and I made cake!" Hunk announced then, lifting up the mood like he always did.

Keith smiled once more, more real this time. They went back to the illusion of a regular, happy life. They went back to the comfort and safety of Allura's small apartment.

—

It was starting to get late when Keith re-emerged from the familiar's labyrinth. The alleyway welcomed him again, dark and humid. He had spent all afternoon finishing off small familiars. He didn't mind the dirty work, he had long ago accepted that his after school afternoons would never be as regular and homework-filled as the rest of his classmates' were. Besides, familiars were easy to deal with, that's why most of the time Keith took the job instead of his teammates. Witches were harder and they usually teamed up to fight them, but they tended to fight off familiars individually. It was faster that way too.

Keith stretched his arms above his head, enjoying how his back popped, relieving some of the tension there. Eight familiars done. He guessed it was time to go back to his apartment.

If he were to be honest, Keith didn't really like it there. The apartment was big, and lonely, with so much space for overthinking. Keith preferred exhausting his body killing off witches and familiars, it was hard sometimes, scary, but, for a few hours, the only thing his mind focused on was on the fighting. Just that. No friends dying, no Walpurgisnacht.

No Lance.

No Lance smiling warmly at him, making his stomach fill with stupid butterflies and his chest ache. No Lance constantly putting himself at danger, as if he had the obligation to keep everyone save. No Lance's beautiful, pretty blue eyes that, sometimes, when the light caught up in them in the right way, took his breath away. No Lance signing a contract with Kyubey. No Lance crying. No Lance dying.

He shook his head, he was overthinking again. He wouldn't allow anything of that happening again, he would save them all this time, even if it took his own life in the process.

With a tired and defeated sigh, he collected himself, deciding the best would be to head back home. Maybe he could buy some instant ramen on the way, since he didn't feel like cooking after so much fighting, and call it a day. That in mind, he took the shortcut that went near the river.

He was near the convenience store, already spotting it from afar, when he noticed someone sitting by the river side, on the small hill next to it. Keith realized it was Lance. He had his back towards Keith, as he stood still looking ahead.

For a moment, Keith just stared at him. He couldn't see his face, since Lance was giving him his back, but Keith found peace in the way his hair softly moved with the wind, his small figure, catching the light of the sunset.

"Hey." Keith sat down next to Lance, watching the river flow in front of them.

He saw Lance turn to look at him, a small smile in his lips.

"Hey," He answered back. And then, after a small pause, as if he was taking the time to examine him. "going back home? You done with the familiars for today?"

Keith could recognize the reapproval, mixing up with worry, in Lance's voice. Lance was always worrying about them all, about _Keith_. Keith found it was nice, cute even, it was one of the things he admired so much of Lance, it was part of his strength, but he also knew Lance could never make him slow down. He'd rather burn himself down, than let Lance fight more than necessary. He could take all the familiars and witches they threw at him, if it meant he got to spare Lance –as well as the rest of his teammates– of the dirty work.

"Yeah," Keith simply answered. "you?"

"I also cleaned off my area of familiars." Lance whispered.

He leaned his head on Keith's shoulder, closing his eyes. Keith took the opportunity to look at Lance better. He looked tired, the light of the sunset making the shadows under his eyes stand out, even if Keith had noticed long ago that Lance often used foundation to cover them up, probably as to not worry friends and family.

"You never told me what was your wish." Lance said then, in a whisper. It felt as if it was a secret between them, a silent promise, a trust-based promise to stay together through everything.

But how could Keith tell Lance his wish? How could Keith tell Lance that it was all for him, that he had wished to re-live their meeting all the times it was necessary as to fix things, make them better, save everyone?

So he smiled, carefully moving some strands of hair away from Lance's face. Lance opened his eyes, looking at him curiously.

"I'll tell you when you defeat more familiars than me." Keith teased.

Lance pulled away, frowning, that competitive look that settled them as rivals in his eyes. When they first met, their rivalry always landed them in fights to see who was the better puella magica. Now, thought, it was nice to see they had put their competitiveness aside and learnt to trust and appreciate the other. Now it was just teasing and playful fighting.

"I'll have you know I've improved a lot! I finished off six today!"

"I did eight."

Lance frown got deeper. "Fine! I'll do sixteen next time, I'll double your number, and you'll have to tell me!"

Keith laughed, it was always fun to watch Lance get so worked up, to see how seriously he took all of this.

"What if I win?"

"I don't know, just choose something you want me to do."

Keith stayed quiet for a few seconds, thinking about it, under Lance's inquisitive look.

"Fine, if I win," Keith paused, hesitating. Was this really a good idea? He mentally sighed, now or never. "you have to go with me to watch that new Spiderman movie."

He saw Lance blush, turning to look at the river again, and Keith wondered if he had caught up on how the word 'date' was hidden behind that proposal.

And then, quietly; "Okay."

—

He knew they weren't ready to fight Walpurgisnacht. He knew it. But it still didn't stop him from hurting. It didn't stop him from feeling every death, every body that fell to the ground, magical transformation wearing off, like a stab to the chest. Hard. All of his friends laying on the cold puddle-filled ground. Unmoving. And he had seen it so many times before, too many, but he still couldn't believe that was their fate. He still couldn't believe that they wouldn't wake up. He didn't want to think about how they wouldn't get to fight witches together anymore –not in that timeline, at least. Not anymore if he could help it.– because it was a terrifying thing to do, but less scary when they were all together. And maybe Keith wouldn't hear their laughs, their teasing and worries anymore, because maybe next time he could stop this from happening –he would, he had to– and it was sad to think of not spending afternoons at Allura's, but he was willing to let go of that, even of meeting them, if he could save them that way.

But right now, in that precise moment, all there was was his friends dead. Again. And he couldn't accept that there was nothing he could do.

Lance couldn't either.

They were the only ones standing now. The last hope for that beautiful city –a city they had watched over for so long, with its bright lights, the children's laugh and the hubbub of busy mornings. Tears were streaming down Lance's face, with frustration, anger and so much sadness. He knew Lance was hurting, he, unfortunately, knew that anguish expression way too well. He had seen Lance cry over their dead bodies too many times. Blaming himself everytime. Lance always thought it was his fault. He should've fought harder, he shouldn't've let them all make a contract. But it wasn't his fault, it was Kyubey's, a whole alien civilization and a twisted fate that loved torturing them, sentencing them to cruel endings each time Keith tried to make things right.

Now they only had each other, and if Keith had to die to make sure at least Lance wouldn't die by the hands of that witch, then he would.

It didn't work. Nothing he did ever worked. Lance had rushed forward, ready to keep trying and trying and trying and trying. Like he always did. Like he did for everyone he cared about. Now all of them were dead, and Keith could understand –he felt it too– the desperation to at least safe the other, they couldn't lose anyone else.

But they did. Now they were both laying on the floor too, too worn out to keep fighting, too tired and too consumed by the dark magic of the witch. Keith could feel the cold water from the rain that was falling on them, from the puddles under his body, seeping into his clothes. Everything was cold, and he was so tired.

Above them, he could see the witch, its big and bizarre shape stretching into the sky, blending into the storm. The witch was too big, and too powerful, and they were just teenagers, so small in the hugeness of the universe.

Lance coughed next to him, and Keith turned his face to look at him.

"You never told me what your wish was." Lance said, a nostalgic smile spread out on his face.

The question hurt more than it should. It wasn't the words, it wasn't the wish; it was the realization of Lance asking that in that moment because he knew they wouldn't make it. Lance knew they wouldn't get to finish their little bet, there wouldn't be any date, nor any late night conversation. They wouldn't even get to see the sunset together one last time. And it hurt. It hurt because Keith had been foolish enough to believe them when they promised him they could defeat that goddamned witch, the same witch that always gave them hell until their very last breaths. Keith actually believed them, he wanted to, just as much as he wanted to go on that date with Lance. He loved him, he loved him so much but he was always left to watch him die again and again in front of his very eyes. He wish they could've had regular teenage lives, that they would've gotten to know each other, with coffeeshop dates and beautiful sunsets.

He felt his eyes fill with tears. This shouldn't end like this. He was supposed to get it right this time, this time nobody would die!

Between them, their Soul Gems flickered with their last sheds of pure light. Red and blue melting into black. The Soul Gems were quickly darkening and soon, they would too become witches.

"I wished to be able to re-live meeting you again." Keith whispered.

They stared into each other's eyes, as if nothing else mattered. Maybe it didn't. Lance looked taken aback, not expecting that answer, and Keith wondered if it would've been more romantic having confessed that wish with the whole city under their feet, or watching the sunset. Not nearly dying. But Lance smiled softly, and it was enough to make Keith's heart skip a beat.

"Then I hope we meet again."

Keith didn't see it coming, but he should've expected it coming from Lance. He pulled out his last Grief Seed, one he had sworn to Keith he didn't have, and used it to purify Keith's Soul Gem before he could even manage to say anything.

Keith was left to watch his Soul Gem return to its bright red color, shining with force –but Lance's blue never reappeared, it drowned in darkness, as Lance grunted in pain.

"No! No, no, no, no!" Keith screamed, getting up from the cold wet floor and towering over Lance's shaking body. "You can't do this to me, Lance! Not again! I can't lose you again!"

By now, his tears were unstoppable. The pain inside him kept growing and growing and Keith felt as if he was suffocating. They didn't have any more Grief Seeds, everyone was dead. There was no way to fix this. He had failed once more. He—.

He felt Lance's hand on his cheek, trembling.

He weakly smiled at him. "I believe in you, if anyone can fix this is you. I know you will. So, please, don't let me –us– make a contract with Kyubey. Please."

Keith shook his head, crying. "I promise."

Lance smiled again and, to Keith's horror, he saw him closing his eyes.

 _No_.

_Not again._

"I love you."

And Keith went back to the start.  


End file.
